THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa

September 26, 1942 – May 15, 2004

“I will have my voice. Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue — my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.” — Gloria E. Anzaldúa

One of the first openly lesbian Chicana writers, Anzaldúa played a major role in redefining Chicanx, queer, feminist and female identities; and in developing inclusionary movements for social justice. Her theories of mestizaje, the borderlands and the new mestiza, as well as her code-switching, have had an impact far beyond the field of Chicanx studies. Her insistence on community and coalition-building united feminist concerns with issues of race, gender, class, sexuality, health and spirituality. Anzaldúa also played a formative role in the development of Queer Theory.